Vanquish A/W 2011-12 Stay Gold

While Buffalo Bobs has stolen the limelight at 109 Mens lately with its edgy high-fashion mode direction, anyone in the Shibuya street style scene can’t have helped but notice that another brand has managed to expand its audience beyond the standard Onii-kei fare. Ever since Vanquish took part in Japan Fashion Week this time last year (featuring Andrej Pejic no less), they have been focused on securing an older fashion focused crowd, one who wants a clean, sharp, manly aesthetic with allusions to European street style. They have also been kept busy with a constant stream of collaborations with the likes of Adidas, a new eye-wear line and even delved into baby clothes if you can believe it. It is a far cry from the glamorous Gyaru-O vision packed with leopard print, rhinestone tees and size zero host suits that I remember from back in the day, but I guess that they have just aged the brand along with the fans who have now become office workers and apparently started popping out kids (don’t expect the latter from me anytime soon). In fact everything about the new look of Vanquish seems aimed at young professionals – in the best possible way – yes, it is more than a shade more conservative but if that makes the world of Shibuya street style more credible for its presence then I am all for it.

Now that is a look that I would never have expected from Vanquish 5 years ago. The details are stripped back and the jeans positively loose, but it is still a strong look and Vanquish have done well to push that nice strong blue as their brand identity.

Good call on those nice high trainers, seems like brands are finally starting to catch on to the fact that people want them to be as high as a boot on the leg.

Now that is a more conventional Vanquish silhouette, but still you can’t help but notice that there are barely any unnecessary details apart from the occasional gold button (hence the title of the collection) that Vanquish have always used.

On to the Adidas collaboration and you can see a little bit more of the Vanquish luster of old:

I always approve of a Tsunagi (all-in-one) so this gets the thumbs up from me.

Next up – eyewear.

Really like these studded glasses, if I wasn’t such a devout follower of Chrome Hearts eyewear I could see myself in these.

And finally… For the coolest dads out there:

Very cute indeed and along with other ventures like the Vanquish perfume etc, marks the brand as a lifestyle one. So what do you think, do you aspire to the Vanquish vision?

Personally I am glad to see Vanquish looking so credible, although I did just nostalgically dig out an old Men’s Egg to remind me of how the epic haired models used to be styled. Either way, I am all for progress and however you look at it Vanquish has definitely matured as a brand and has now become an accepted part of the fabric of the Japanese fashion scene.